Kosciuszko Bridge replacement coming in on budget through design-build program

Construction on the Kosciuszko Bridge project is expected to be completed on time.

The $550 million replacement of the Kosciuszko Bridge appears to be on time and on budget. That’s not an everyday occurrence in the annals of New York infrastructure. But the new Kosciuszko is no ordinary project. The opening of the first of the bridge’s two cable-stayed spans in spring 2017 will mean clemency for drivers on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway who are used to a bone-jarring crossing over Newtown Creek (when traffic is moving, that is)—and millions of dollars in savings.

What differentiates this project is the use of “design-build,” a bidding process that allows engineering and construction to be contracted together rather than separately, as is normally the case. The Citizens Budget Commission estimated that design-build could save the city $2 billion over 10 years. The only problem? Albany has approved it only for a handful of state-run projects and has refused to grant the city permission to employ it for city-run jobs.

That’s why the issue is the No. 1 legislative priority for city Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, who is beginning work on a $1.7 billion repair of the BQE’s cantilevered roadway through Brooklyn Heights. “I still have to use traditional design-bid-build, which, frankly, will add years to the project and tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of dollars,” Trottenberg told Crain’s. “It just makes no sense.”

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